Although being an empath is hard, being empathetic is harder!!! For me, there are two parts to being a sensitive person - being empathetic and being an empath. The empath side of me picks up on someone’s feelings, thoughts, and even pain. Because of how easy it is for me to connect with someone emotionally, whether it is someone I know personally or a story I read online, my empathic traits AND my empath sensitivity come out. I am constantly evaluating my feelings or pain to see if indeed it is my own.

As if it isn’t hard enough carrying around the weight of others, I have noticef that I even feel compassion for the bad guy. That’s right, I said it…. I will read a story about a victim; I can feel their pain, which is an empath trait. When the story progresses onto the “bad guy”, my brain says what an asshole but my heart tugs for them (this is both my empath self and my empathetic self). I don’t want this; I don’t want to feel bad for a person who did the wrong thing, who may have hurt someone or is downright evil. My brain knows better and has to convince my heart. The internal battle is real! Feeling compassion for the entire human race whether they deserve it or not is HARD!

​I have no sage advice here, just acknowledging that there is a struggle. I do what I can to protect myself by keeping my crystals close to me and avoid a lot of negative news stories. My brain works overtime convincing my heart that the bad guy doesn’t deserve my compassion … or do they???